WLHA , at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was one of the earliest, and longest running student operated college radio stations in the country.  It started operations in 1954 with call letters WMHA, for "Men's Halls Association" shifting to WLHA, for "Lakeshore Halls Association" in 1960 when it also moved into new studios in the basement of Elm Drive B dorm. 

 The station facilities were largely student designed and built, including furniture, mixing consoles, transmitters, and special features such as electronic interlocks on studio doors.  The station utilized AM carrier current with a network of transmitters spread throughout the Lakeshore dorms, and eventually Liz Waters, and Chadbourne hall. It also provided a second program channel that fed directly to the PA systems of the dining halls, providing dinner music.  Liz Waters residents also had wall mounted speakers in every room which would bring in WLHA directly at the push of a button.  

Audio cables running through the campus steam tunnel system connected WLHA studios with the all of the dorms, Upper Carson Gulley and most importantly, WHA radio, which had a very extensive network of audio lines and provided connections to the Field House, Camp Randall, and all other University buildings.  These steam tunnel cables also linked WLHA to the studios of WSRM, the carrier current student station located in the S.E. high rise dorms, and to ABC network newscasts.  The station sold advertising and recieved budget assistance from the parent Lakeshore Halls Association.  A relatively unique aspect of WLHA, was that it truly was completely student owned and operated.  There were no paid positions, and all managers were students.  There was no faculty advisory board or supervision, a level of autonomy not generally encountered at college radio stations.

This site is dedicated to all of the students who staffed WMHA and WLHA over an operational life of four decades, with particular emphasis on the AM years, before the transition to FM and new call letters WSUM.  It is intended to provide the means for former staffers to remain in contact with each other and pool resources to make an archive of audio, photo and historical information related to the station during it's AM carrier current life when it was known as "The Big 64" and later "Lakeshore 64".  For those of us who worked there and formed strong enduring friendships with so many creative staff members, we hope that this site and the images and sounds it provides, will continue to provide smiles, trigger memories of fun times long ago, and bring us all closer together.